


Always Will.

by Nightwood



Category: Nightwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 04:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2216217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightwood/pseuds/Nightwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do when long-lasting love dies? What do you do when a relationship that was suppose to stand the tests of eternity dissolves?</p><p>
  <em>... Daniel couldn't recall any specific day where the happiness had all left. No, it had trickled away in soft increments, like the top end of an hourglass loosing crystalline grains of sand over time. Slowly the fights about nothing had become more frequent, more heated, more physical... and the love had grown more shriveled, more faded, more intangible. A kiss was a futile gesture. A night in bed was a necessity, not a pleasure. A conversation was an empty clatter, and a fight was a loud agreement of mutual, helpless frustration. ...<em></em></em>
</p><p>Setting: Modern Day America (a city and its suburbs)<br/>Background: William is a CEO of a company and Lucien Lachance is one of his clients.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Last Straw

William's nose broke.  
  
He hadn't any doubts about his nose's condition once his face hit the cabinet and he crumpled to the floor. The loud bang of flesh against lacquered wood covered the sound, but he _felt_ it in the grinding of bone against severed cartilage. He lifted a hand and a drop of blood met his fingers in mid-rise, followed by another and another. As he sat there on the tiled floor of the kitchen with his legs swept to one side of his hunched body, he cupped that same long-fingered hand under his nose as though this would somehow be enough to catch all of the ichor draining from his head. As it seeped between his fingers and dripped to paint the floor with splattered crimson, his vision blurred with tears of pain.  
  
In the sudden quiet that weighed heavy over the room, William's whispered shudders of sobs reigned supreme, dominating as the only sound to cut through the icy sheet of silence. A blind man might have guessed that he was alone, but a deaf man would differ grimly. Daniel was standing before him, body tensed in mid-action, eyes wide with disbelief. A red anger was slowly fading from his eyes, clearing his vision to reveal a scene that seemed to unreal to him. There was so much blood. It seemed almost Hollywood to the ebony-haired man.  
  
On the man's pale chiseled face stood four deep welts; angry thin streaks of pain which William had inflicted  only moments before. Daniel didn't understand. He'd only pushed the man away. How did William suddenly seem so light? He'd only wanted to push him away...  
  
Daniel's quiet shock was expressed in his wide mismatched eyes as he finally found his voice. "I-I'm sorry..."  
  
William made an attempt to speak, but it came out as a nasal whimper. His bloodied hand let go of its feeble catch of red ooze in order to lift and face palm outwards, halting Daniel's progress when the man tried to step towards him. He still said nothing. William merely shook his head with an expression that looked so more utterly _broken_ than his gushing nose. Daniel could read that expression like a book. Nothing he said right now would do him any good.  
  
He left.  
  
He walked up the stairs and to his room, closing and locking the door behind him. The last turn of the handle clicked softly, reassuring him of his security within the room's walls. But he didn't feel secure. He felt broken too. His head rested back against the door as he leaned his whole weight onto it and slid down the surface to sit on the floor. He idly noted that he was crying now. He could feel it through the sudden drain of energy that poured into the act, forcing out tears and quiet sobs and twisted expressions of pure remorse. How did this happen? Where had everything gone wrong?  
  
Daniel couldn't recall any specific day where the happiness had all left. No, it had trickled away in soft increments, like the top end of an hourglass loosing crystalline grains of sand over time. Slowly the fights about nothing had become more frequent, more heated, more physical... and the love had grown more shriveled, more faded, more intangible. A kiss was a futile gesture. A night in bed was a necessity, not a pleasure. A conversation was an empty clatter, and a fight was a loud agreement of mutual, helpless frustration.  
  
Daniel did not know where it had all gone so heart-wrenchingly wrong. William's broken, spewing nose stood as a red flag to him now, alerting him to the dysfunction that had crept up on them like a shadowy beast. But even worse than its beginning, or its bloody consequence, Daniel hated the realization that raked through his internals like claws through prey:  
  
He did not know how to fix this either.


	2. Outside Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roslynn knows the truth, but William refuses to change his story.

"...William?"  
  
"Here." William's voice sounded almost... puffy. It was as if he was suffering from a severe case of allergies. As Roslynn turned the corner and entered the kitchen, she understood why.  
  
"I got your text," she said with a frown as she drew nearer to the body sitting on the floor. William was sitting in a pool of his own blood, his pale expression tired and not all there. "You could have told me there would be blood. I would've brought a first aid kit... And a mop..."  
  
William gave a listless shrug, his dark-circled eyes on the blood as his head remained drooped limply to the side. Roslynn noted how much his blood loss seemed to be affecting him and she withdrew her phone from her pocket. "I'm calling an ambulance."  
  
William did not protest.  
  
...  
  
"Tell me again how you broke your nose?" Roslynn had to move her chair again to get back into William's line of sight. Lately, the man seemed rather intent on pretending the world around him did not exist. He continued to wallow in the thoughts to which his assistant was not privy. She waited, growing irritated when her boss did not answer right away. "The doctors have been throwing around the term 'domestic abuse'," she prodded doggedly.  
  
William's eyes snapped to her. His dim emerald gaze lit with anger then, his brows furrowing as he spoke softly so as to not upset the recently set cartilage in his nose. "I told you. I told everyone. I spilled oil while I was cooking and didn't clean it up."  
  
"Since when do _you_ spill food?" Roslynn knew about William's intense love for the culinary arts. One does not simply spill the oil when they are so meticulous with their culinary craft. But William did not change his story. "So if I go back to your house and look in your kitchen, I'll find olive oil on the tile?"  
  
"Under the blood, yes."  
  
Roslynn didn't buy it for one second. But what could she do? William was stubborn. She reminded him that Daniel did not have to be a permanent resident at the businessman's house, but William responded by asking what that had to do with him slipping on olive oil.  
  
Stubborn as a jackass.


	3. Chapter 3

Daniel didn't know what to do. He'd crossed a line, he knew that much. He wasn't sure how to act now, or where it was okay for him to go. He wished William would show up and yell at him already, punish him so that he knew exactly how heavy the yoke of penance must lay on his body and soul. But the burgundy-haired man did nothing of the sort. In fact, he did much worse. He left Daniel alone, allowing the man to rot like a corpse locked away in the tomb that was the solitary upstairs guest bedroom. Daniel didn't eat. He only drank when his tongue caught droplets of water in the shower, reminding him to open up his mouth and moisten his drying throat. The muggy uncertainty roiled around Daniel's room and infected every pore of his being, eating him up from the inside out until he could not take it anymore.  
  
One, two, three. Three cuts on his left arm. Quick, brief and fleeting so as to relieve the tension before he could change his mind.  
  
Butterfly stitches. Daniel found the ones William had long ago placed in the guest bedroom's bathroom cabinet for times like these. One... two... three. One to hold together each wound. Daniel felt low. Three bandages to represent one broken promise to the William with whom he had first fallen in love. But what could hurt him now? He had already hurt himself.  
  
The man crossed the room in strides, moving as though he were running from something; his own hesitation, perhaps. His hand unlocked the door and strong fingers curled around the knob. He tried to turn it slowly, but his muscles would not obey. _Do it fast. Like ripping off a band-aid. Count of three..._  
  
One, two, three.  
  
...  
  
Downstairs, William was resting on the couch. He was in baggy sweats and a t-shirt, both being his own articles of clothing. Back during happier days, William used to steal Daniel's clothes from his drawer almost every night, coveting them and claiming them as his own for a day as a way of asserting his own exclusive possession of Daniel and Daniel's belongings. The smell of pine would cling to every thread. The baggy fit would add a pool of comfort around William's lithe and fit frame. Some days William's theft would cause Daniel to run out of pajamas before laundry day. Those nights were always a hoot.  
  
William's mind drew away from its nostalgia at the sound of an opening door. A few moments later Daniel's face came into view and William wondered if that same stranger was really the man whose clothes he had stolen each night. He didn't look familiar at all. Or if he did, it was a familiarity that hung about him in a wisp of "used to be's".  
  
Daniel was the one to speak first. "...Hello..." His blue and amber eyes flicked over William's face with soft concern and ominous hesitation, taking note of the two black eyes and the bruised nose. How hard had William hit that cabinet?  
  
William kept eye contact with Daniel, his expression more tired than anything else. "Hello."  
  
"How are you feeling?"  
  
"Stuffed up."  
  
"...I'm sorry..."  
  
Daniel waited, inwardly begging that unwavering gaze to do something, to look away or to turn bright with emotion or cloud dark with defensive coldness. At this point, even anger would be just as welcome as forgiveness. But William remained aloof. And silent.  
  
He tried again. "William, I'm sorry. Truly I am! I'm so sorry!"  
  
Nothing. Daniel's eyes clouded with desperate tears. "Can't you hear me? I'm sorry!"  
  
No response. Just quiet, tired observance.  
  
The ebony-haired man finally turned away, half running towards the front door to escape that cold, empty void which poured from his ex-lover like black tar over delicate flora. He couldn't bear it, and as he slammed the door shut behind him, his left hand pulled his razor from the shallow depths of his pants pocket and lifted to his other arm.  
  
 _One, two, three._


	4. He Noticed Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel is far past desperate for forgiveness. Right now, all he wants is to be noticed again.

Slowly, Daniel got back on speaking terms with William. It started with a "good morning", to which his aloof host responded with a "It's 1:30, Daniel". In the days that followed, Daniel managed to tack on an exchange about the weather and then a discussion about William's job. The burgundy-haired man gradually allowed his house guest to touch him again, if only to help William apply the makeup to cover up his bruises. "Careful," William would warn softly as Daniel neared his nose. "Of course," Daniel would invariably respond with a gentle smile as his strong fingers worked with meticulous care. One day he sealed his work with a gentle peck on William's forehead and was not sent away. One day he held William close to his chest before the man went to work and he was not admonished. But as much affection as William accepted, he would never return it to any degree.  
  
"I love you," Daniel would murmur hopefully.  
  
William would seem to have been struck by temporary deafness each time. He would not react. Daniel began to despair once more.  
  
On some days, Daniel would follow his vague-expressioned love to work like a lost puppy. He would sit in the waiting room during meetings, shaking hands with strangers and noting how equally unfamiliar they looked compared to William. Rosewood was a stranger, Nightshade was a stranger, they were all strangers almost passing under each other's notice.  
  
...Until one day, a handshake lingered and did not let go. Daniel's bi-colored eyes lifted to rest on the face of a stranger, their expression exuding an air of familiarity that made his heart ache. "Mr. Lachance," he murmured with a soft smile that only reached skin deep. The cool, whiskey brown eyes of the man before him began to pick him over, reminding him of the lost times when William use to dissect him with a simple glance. It felt odd to be noticed again.  
  
"Daniel." Something about the man's suave tone caused Daniel to nearly flinch in surprise. Hardly anyone here used his first name, never mind in such a personally intimate tone. But this was always how Lucien had been. Why be surprised about it now?  
  
Suddenly Daniel's hand was grasping air and Lucien's shake had been transferred to William. The burgundy-haired man stood in between them, his eyes turning to flick over Daniel in an assessing manner before turning back to Lucien.  
  
 _He noticed me._ Daniel sounded like a giddy schoolgirl to his own mind, but he didn't care. For a fleeting moment, William Rosewood had surveyed his "property" to inspect it for outward damage. It was objective, it was petty, but it was _something_. As Lucien and his gaunt-faced friend walked away, Daniel waved. William's green eyes flashed.  
  
It was a start.


	5. Move On.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For all of the patience Daniel possesses, he is tired of waiting.

Daniel began to meet up Lucien quite frequently. The word "date" tasted odd in his mouth has he quietly uttered the word after their first lunch together. It didn't _feel_ like a date. He had spent the whole time practically leeching off of Lucien, who graciously allowed the lonely man to draw a certain comradeship from Lucien that Daniel had been craving for a while now. Soon the "dates" became regular and William began to grow suspicious.  
  
One night Daniel came home late from a soiree with Lucien. For once, he was smiling and his heart still beat fast from reeling around the dance floor without a care. He'd attracted a lot of stares. Lucien did not seem pleased by this at all and he kept Daniel close. Coveting... Possessive... Protective...  
  
Daniel loved every minute of it.  
  
A switch of the living room light illuminated the area, revealing a figure sitting on the couch. Daniel's breath caught in his throat and his fists constricted to help him rein in an expression of surprise. He stood there for a moment, his mind frantically searching for something to say, but William beat him to it.  
  
"You're home late."  
  
"Am I?" Daniel forced his shoulders to relax as he walked further into the room.  
  
"Where have you been?"  
  
Daniel's growing guilt urged him to tell the truth, but at what cost? So that he could be shunned even more? So that William could find more excuses to shut him out? "I went for a walk."  
  
"Where to?"  
  
Though Daniel had resolved to tell a lie, he relished the look of suspicion growing on his ex-lover's face. "Around the neighborhood."  
  
"And then?"  
  
"To the park."  
  
"And then??"  
  
"And then I came home."  
  
William's eyes roamed over Daniel, assessing his appearance and cross-referencing that with Daniel's story.  
  
 _Liar._  
  
He stood, delicately picking his way over the carpet as he ran his finger through his burgundy hair, pushing the strands back out of his face and eyeing Daniel with a quiet anger. He stepped close, causing his houseguest to tense. _Why should I feel guilty,_ Daniel chided himself, _if we're not even a couple anymore?_ His heart split silently, despite his attempt at keeping that thought indifferent.  
  
William's green irises flicked over the man once more, judging every inch of his appearance before gazing up into those mismatched eyes. Emerald brands reached up from those eyes, burning silent reprimand into Daniel's mind. The ebony-haired man hardly even had to guess what William was thinking. He could see it all over his face: _You reek of champagne._  
  
Daniel had expected a fight. _Yearned_ for it, actually. He longed for a chance to finally scream his frustration and be heard. But the two went their separate ways and went to bed alone. Just like always, they remained apart.  
  
Strangers.  
  
...  
  
"I'm giving up..."  
  
The words were spoken into the empty parking garage, their syllables drifting through the red aura of a young sunset and falling on deaf vehicles, including William's Tesla which his weight was leaned against. They were addressed to no one but himself as he acknowledged the weariness of his own heart and vocalized it. "I am beginning... to give up." His current solitude in the echoing space accentuated this growing feeling as he spoke. He was growing more and more tired of trying to make up for all of his mistakes. He was tired of trying to rekindle a love, only to have the romance remain one-sided.  
  
"On what?"  
  
The sudden deep voice behind Daniel startled his heart into a panicked race. Instinctively, his body spun about and his fist flew, aiming for the blur of a face before his brain had time to switch on and stop his hand. An equally strong hand lifted and pressed forward, catching Daniel's fist as the other person's body drew in closer.  
  
"...Lucien?" Daniel viewed the man's calm, striking features with wide eyes, straightening his posture with a look of confusion as he noted the small distance between their bodies. _This is new._ His heart continued to race as Lucien's breath hit his cheek with a soft huff.  
  
"Those are quite some reflexes you've got there," Lachance purred with an amused smirk. Daniel began to stutter something out, but the other man's words interrupted. "You haven't been answering my texts. Are you avoiding me?"  
  
Daniel could do nothing more than shake his head. Where had his voice gone? He could feel the heat coming from Lucien's body. What was happening? How had Lucien found him here?  
  
"I certainly _hope_ you're not avoiding me. I've been pouring so much time into you. Weeks, even."  
  
"...W-why?"  
  
Lucien gave a low chuckle. It made Daniel's heart stutter to feel that chuckle rumble between their bodies and flow into his own chest. Their hands were still in the air where Lucien had stopped the punch, though Daniel's muscles were slowly beginning to relax during their exchange. "...If you really don't know the answer to that, Nightshade," Lachance purred, "then those pretty little eyes of yours truly must be blind."  
  
Daniel's mind scrambled to make at least one coherent thought as Lucien leaned forward and pressed their lips together. The kiss was hungry, the result of weeks of Lucien's self-restraint being poured into one embrace as his arms curved around Daniel's back and pulled their bodies close. As Daniel felt their chests connect, his deep sense of need suddenly flared and his hands shot forward almost of their own accord. His fingers were reaching now, grasping at Lucien's sides and digging into his shirt- curling the material into his fists and using it to pull that enticing man in and urge him to never let go.  
  
*Clink*  
  
It was a small sound. Daniel would have hardly heard that jingling of keys if it hadn't been for Lucien's alert ears. Suddenly the man's rough breathing stopped, his hands growing still to take in the sound and open his whiskey brown eyes. They flicked to view the space behind Daniel as he brought a hand to Daniel's head and pulled one last kiss from the panting man's lips. Then he loosened his grip, just enough to let Daniel turn around to see their one-man audience for himself.  
  
"William..." Daniel made as if to pull away, but Lucien's arms around his waist demanded constant close proximity to his new man of interest. His thumb gently ran up and down the side of Daniel's hip, stroking the space in a motion that could have been meant to calm the ebony-haired man... or perhaps remind him of where his heart was suppose to reside now. Either way, Daniel could not erase the compromising position in which he stood, hip to hip with one of his ex's clients.  
  
Gone was the cold indifference from William's expression. His face held a distinct amount of overwhelming shock. His eyes were shining as they looked from Daniel to Lucien, sizing up Daniel's new man and withering from the inside out. Lucien was strong. Lucien was handsome. Lucien was visceral. Lucien was everything William was not. His own inadequacy felt suffocating to him. It was like he had been sitting in a glass box, surrounded by the pressure of his own mistakes only to watch this one kiss crack the glass. Every wrong came flooding to him in an ocean of sick horror: the silence, the indifference, the selfishness. His emotions came to the surface in waves, showing and then vanishing over and over as though they were a basket of dirty laundry that kept trying to drop a sock from the corner or some shirts from the side, only to be caught and stuffed away again. And as he felt the weight of these emotions rapidly weigh his whole mind and body down like a sea crushing his shoulders, an equally crushing thought followed:  
  
 _It's too late._  
  
What could he say? "Sorry"? "Come back to me"? After all he'd done to Daniel? The man didn't deserve that. Clearly, he had found someone else. Clearly, he had another chance at happiness. A _better_ chance.  
  
Daniel was the one to break the silent stare-down. Lucien grunted as the man's hands slammed against his chest, ripping him out of Lachance's grip and causing him to stumble back a couple steps. His head turned away from William's emerald sorrow and his body followed, carrying him away from the scene as fast and far as his feet could take him. He ran down the stairs, he ran out into the open air and he continued on, passing pedestrians and shops and empty lots until his burning lungs begged him to sit down on the curb. He looked around himself through tear-blurred eyes, sobs wracking his chest as his bi-colored gazed fell on the empty playground behind him.  
  
 _Where have you been?_  
  
 _I went to the park._  
  
 _And then??_  
  
 _And then I came home._  
  
He couldn't go home anymore.  
  
...  
  
Daniel detested the sight of Lucien's name in his phone. It stood for all that hurt so bad in his life right now. The end was bound to come one way or another. But to have Lucien be the sudden sharp instrument to sever that tie... it made Daniel's stomach roll.  
  
Still, he had nowhere else to go.  
  
...  
  
"Coffee?"  
  
Daniel found a steaming mug come into his view and he looked up to see Lucien's deep brown eyes watching him inquisitively. He shook his head and dropped his gaze with a labored sigh, his tone broken as he declined the mug. "No thank you."  
  
"Whiskey?"  
  
Daniel's eyes snapped up again. William would have _never_ made such an offer. Augh, he needed to stop comparing these two. "...Yes please."  
  
Daniel drank until his head buzzed. It wasn't until he dared to make eye contact with his new host that Lucien began to speak. "I knew there was something going on," he murmured as he sat next to Daniel on the expensive couch and draped one ankle over his knee. "I wasn't sure just _what_ it was until I saw the two of you together." He noted the growing grimace on Daniel's face and moved on to his point, lest he scare the man away so soon. "...You've been using me." The words had the desired effect on the dejected man next to him. Though he did not sit up from where his elbows rested on his knees, his red, worn eyes did look to Lucien with a certain apprehension. "Am I right? Yes, it seems so. You were hoping you could fix things between you two with a dash of jealousy, hm?" Tears began to trickle freely from the silent man's eyes. He turned with a groan, resting his face in his hands and letting his shoulders slump dejectedly.  
  
"But Daniel..." Lucien's glass gave a soft clink as it came to rest on the glass coffee table before him. His legs uncrossed and lifted him slightly from the couch, allowing him to slide over until his arm was brushing up against Daniel's. "You still have me." Daniel felt lips touch lightly against his temple, and then next to his ear. His voice was gentle, his tone enticing. "Let me let you forget."  
  
"I'm a-afraid you won't find me to be very responsive tonight," Daniel choked out heartbrokenly. Suddenly, a hand grasped his shoulder and he felt himself being jerked up from his slouching position. As his back hit the back of the seat, his wide, moist eyes looked to his host. Lucien's face had taken on a certain darkness that Daniel had never seen before. His half-lidded eyes sparked with amusement while his smirking lips parted to purr out his next words: "...Is that a challenge?"  
  
Lucien's lips were on Daniel's mouth before he could speak, working them greedily and _demanding_ a response. Daniel returned the kiss, his head whirling dazedly as he cooperated half-heartedly. Then the kiss was gone and Lucien's lips were trailing his jaw, systematically searching for sweet spots. Daniel let out a soft cry of surprise when Lucien bit down on a sensitive area on his neck. It had taken William _months_ to find that spot! Lucien snickered into Daniel's neck and sucked on it roughly, dragging a halting moan from Daniel before moving on. He nipped along Daniel's collarbone, flicking his tongue across another sensitive patch as he felt Daniel's hands come up to tightly grasp his shoulders. Lucien was working mind-numbingly fast, his hands moving to Daniel's knees and spreading them apart to make room for Lucien's body as he forcefully teased at another sensitive area on the man's shoulder to loosen his guard. Then Daniel's shirt was off and Lucien's hands were working downwards, his lips following at a slower pace as the man below him began to gasp and writhe.  
  
Lucien's lips stopped on Daniel's muscled stomach and again his tongue popped out to tease at the skin. "Of course, I can stop if you want me to," he murmured in a gravely voice as his fingers finished with Daniel's belt. He pulled at the pants and snickered softly when the man's hips involuntarily bucked, bringing Lucien to quickly lift his roughened hands to coax Daniel's back into a nice, inviting arch. He brought his face level with Daniel's again, pecking him gently on the nose and giving an arrogant grin. "...But something tells me that won't be an issue."  
  
Daniel let out a desperate pant.


	6. Reconcile?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite the new distractions in his life, William's absence from Daniel's life still hurts.

Daniel awoke in a bed that smelled completely unfamiliar to him. There was no trace of any honey scent on his pillow. His whole body smelled of earth and paper and strange things, and his mind connected the scent with memories of last night. Daniel had to admit, he was _sore_. Lucien was demanding, that was for sure. He wasn't the type to stop until he had properly worn his partner out. What a long, hectic night...  
  
Daniel began to sit up, but the arms around him tightened and kept him on the mattress. Lucien's naked body stirred behind Daniel as the man quickly went from sound asleep to wide awake. He pressed his lips to the back of Daniel's shoulder. Daniel flinched. He could feel a hickey there.  
  
"Where are you going," Lucien murmured into Daniel's skin as one hand began to idly explore Daniel's muscled torso.  
  
"I was going to get dressed. Maybe take a shower before," Daniel replied, turning his head to look wearily back at the striking man. He frowned when Lucien's hand slid over Daniel's thigh, coaxing a shiver from him. "Lucien, we just woke up," Daniel whined as he turned to rest his head back on his pillow and scrunched his eyes shut.  
  
"So?" Lucien gave a low snicker and moved both hands downwards.  
  
Daniel made such pitiful, pathetic noises that even Lucien had to take pity. With a dejected grumble and a huff he lifted his hands, allowing his bedmate to sit up and slip out of bed. As Daniel gathered his clothes, whiskey brown eyes idled over his body and appraised every inch without any regard to Daniel's privacy. What privacy? They'd had sex. As far as Lucien was concerned, physical privacy would no longer exist between the two of them.  
  
But emotional privacy... "...Your scars..."  
  
Lucien cringed as Daniel brought up the inevitable subject. His face turned angry and he eyed Daniel with a dangerous warning in his eyes. "Go take your damn shower."  
  
Daniel quietly obliged.  
  
...  
  
Daniel was slowly beginning to grow used to living with Lucien. The man was an emotional dry well, but he was very sharp and very good at conversations when the fancy struck him. He was also a very insistent lover, but Daniel was patient. God, was he patient! It was easier to tolerate Lucien's urges compared to William's silences. At least here Daniel was wanted. At least here Lucien could make him moan and buck and pant... and forget.  
  
He was trying so hard to forget. But one day the object of his slowly healing emotional misery showed up on his doorstep. Or rather, Lucien's doorstep.  
  
"I have already informed you of his sentiments, Mr. Rosewood. He does not want to see you."  
  
Daniel perked up where he stood in the hallway at the sound of that name.  
  
"You haven't even told him that I'm here," William persisted. "Please, I only want to speak with him briefly."  
  
" _Move on, Rosewood._ "  
  
"Go tell him I'm here and let _him_ tell me that!"  
  
"William?"  
  
Both heads turned to look behind Lucien. William waited for some sign of anger or disgust, but Daniel's expression held only curiosity. The lithe man's appearance hadn't changed a bit. His burgundy hair was parted slightly to the side and combed out of his face as usual and his sharp features held a certain delicate beauty that made Daniel want to protect William with everything he had. But that wasn't his place anymore.  
  
William took Daniel's expression as a lack of hostility and ran with it. "I wanted to talk to you," he voiced as he ducked under Lucien's arm braced against the doorframe. The larger man growled, but when he went to follow after the lithe, stubborn man, Daniel's body was suddenly conveniently placed as a barrier between the two men. "Please. It will only take a second and then I'll leave."  
  
Though Lucien's eyes burned with silent protest, Daniel wanted to hear what his ex-lover had to say. Despite everything, William was important to him. He invited the burgundy-haired man outside and they sat together on the porch. "...Is everything alright?" he asked the green eyed man softly. It was nice to have William here, sitting only a foot away on the porch steps. Despite all the bad memories and the heartache, the good memories were still there too. The comfort was still there.  
  
William frowned softly to hear Daniel's question. He hardly deserved that concern anymore. He knew deserved silence from Daniel. He deserved coldness. He deserved anger. With a sigh he shook his head, his posture straight as always as Daniel leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.  
  
"No, unfortunately not,"  William responded. A sad expression came over his face and Daniel resisted the urge to reach out and touch him. He knew Lucien well enough to know that his lover would be watching. William continued to speak. "After you left, I thought that would resolve things. I thought that I could go back to living alone without any qualms, but the _guilt_ is harrowing. The regret is unresolved." William's green eyes turned to look upon the face of Lucien's lover. "My conscience rots me from the inside out every day. Don't worry, I didn't come to take you away. I know you have your own life apart from me now. I just wanted to see if you would take my burden from me." William closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Daniel knew this man's pride hated apologies, and it still showed as William braced himself for what he was about to say. The rest of his words came out in a rush. "I'm sorry for shutting you out. I'm sorry for treating you like nothing when you tried so hard to love me in my silence. I'm sorry for not opening my eyes and realizing when it was time to forgive and move on. Even the broken nose was my own fault. It never would have happened if I hadn't scratched you first. I could have been more caring when I wanted to fight and I could have _realized_ that everything that was ever good to me was not something to t-take... for g-granted..." William's voice cracked here and he placed his hands over his face, taking a deep breath and calming himself. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Daniel's cheeks were lined with tears.  
  
Daniel's quiet voice tremored with emotion. "What do you w-want from me," he inquired helplessly. He couldn't just leave Lucien for William's heart-rending apology. He didn't know what to do with all these words William had heaved in his face.  
  
"I want your forgiveness. Please, Daniel... I don't want you to hate me the way I have grown to hate myself for what I did to you. I couldn't stand it..."  
  
"I've never hated you. And I never will."  
  
William's grateful smile touched Daniel to his very core. He wanted so badly to reach for the man and hold him close, to feel their reconciliation pass between them through the touch of their skin. But he was Lucien's now. If there was any defining quality that Daniel always upheld in a relationship, it was loyalty.  
  
As William stood to walk back to his car, Daniel's words reached for him and bade him to slow his pace. "We don't have to be strangers," he voiced hopefully to the burgundy-haired man. "...It's been so long. I want to be your friend again."  
  
William's saddened smile shined with a quiet gratitude at these words as his head turned to gaze back at the man that was no longer his own. "I would like that very much. Text me?"  
  
Daniel smiled. "Of course."


	7. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucien is not pleased to see that Daniel is back on good terms with his ex.

_"I want to stay in this paradise, quoting you lyrics every night_  
 _And not telling you which ones that I wrote myself_  
 _About the oh so many things that'll stop us from staying together_  
 _But I want to be in love with you forever!"_  
  
Daniel was singing in the shower again. It seemed to be happening more and more as his spirits lifted each week. And though he'd never say it out loud, he knew who to blame for his rapid uplift.  
  
William.  
  
Lover or not, the man was a staple in Daniel's life. Simply meeting up with him on good terms for lunch brought Daniel incredible happiness and comfort. He could confide in the man and joke with him and tell him about the stranger aspects of his life with Lucien. William would listen to it all, offering advice when he could and laughing with Daniel. It was a comfort, to say the least.  
  
Daniel was still whistling when he stepped out of the shower. "AHH!" He nearly jumped out of his still wet skin to find Lucien silently standing there, leaning back against the sink with arms folded over his chest. He smirked. "You're lucky your singing voice is above mediocre," he murmured in a reluctant compliment, "or else I would find your little shower concerts to be hard to tolerate."  
  
Daniel, who was quickly trying to get a towel around his waist, couldn't help but guffaw. "You don't tolerate things," he snickered with an amused grin. "You're so quick to stamp out potential annoyances, I'm not even sure if you know what annoying feels like any more." He turned away from Lucien's grumble, snickering as he turned to the fogged up mirror and picked up his hair brush. He wiped away the condensation, revealing his own reflection and that of the man whose arms now draped loosely around his slick waist. Lucien's whiskery chin came to rest on Daniel's shoulder, his eyes looking Daniel over in the mirror as he pressed a gentle kiss to the man's neck on an impulse.  
  
"/You're/ annoying," he grumbled back lamely as he let Daniel's pine scent seep into his senses. "...What are you doing tonight?"  
  
The random question was only enough to bring Daniel to briefly pause in the methodic movements of his brush through his hair. He looked to Lucien with an arched brow. "I'm having dinner at Beau Jo's. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Dinner with /whom/?"  
  
"Mr. Rosewood."  
  
The impersonal identification seemed to do nothing to ease Lucien's imminent displeasure. There was no mistaking the soft rumble of a growl in Lucien's throat as he nipped Daniel's shoulder a mite too roughly. Daniel squeaked. "Impossible," Lucien muttered as he licked away the small, accidental drop of blood with a flick of his tongue.  
  
"And why is that?" Daniel's voice was strained, but he had become well-practiced in containing the myriad of visceral reactions that Lucien's habits tended to evoke.  
  
"Because we won't even be in town tonight."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We're going to Ungolim's house, remember?"  
  
"No we're not, you made that up."  
  
"Are you calling me a liar?"  
  
Daniel's head turned and two mismatched eyes flicked down to the syrupy cool pools floating in Lucien's irises. Despite the anger in those brown depths, Daniel allowed himself a soft smile. "I'm calling you a fibber," he replied, turning his body to lean back against the counter. "A jealous fibber." His arms curled around the back of Lucien's neck and draped loosely, coaxing Lucien into leaning into a gentle and slow kiss. He could feel his lover's agitation as he broke away, and he hoped his friendly smile would help reassure the man. "Don't worry," he murmured . "It's not a date."  
  
"You have too many not-dates."  
  
"William and I are only _friends_."  
  
"That's one too many extra suitors for me."  
  
" _Friends_." Daniel was holding Lucien's face between his hands now, trying his best to get his words to seep into Lucien's jealousy-hardened mind. "Please... I'm happy here. Believe me, I'm not looking for things to change. It's just nice to get out and see people every once in a while."  
  
Lucien's jaw clenched and unclenched, finally allowing a sigh to seep from between his lips. "...Don't stay out too late."


	8. Loyalty

Daniel was staying out too late. 7:00, where was he? Vicente told his friend to stop being an ass, but Lucien's mind didn't make the connection between the insult and his impatience. 8:00, what was Daniel doing? Lucien got into a fight with Vicente's petite girlfriend, only to have his feisty little vent get ushered out of the house by Vicente. 9:00, when would Daniel be back? Lucien was brought out of his dark brooding mood when the heard the sound of footsteps on his front porch. Silently, he lifted a hand from where he sat on the recliner and moved the curtain just enough for him to see outside.  
  
William and Daniel were standing Way. Too. CLOSE.  
  
...  
  
Daniel was smiling as he stepped out of William's Tesla and walked up the driveway with the chatty burgundy-haired man. As they neared the house, William's words died away until he seemed to have nothing left to say. They stopped on the porch and turned to face each other, Daniel suddenly realizing with a small amount of discomfort that they were very close. He didn't want to hurt William's feelings by stepping away. Was the green-eyed man doing this on purpose?  
  
"I've missed this... I've missed you," William uttered with a soft tone of nostalgia.  
  
Daniel gave an awkward smile at the blatantly suggestive words. "Thanks for dinner," he murmured as he tried his best to ignore the close scent of honey.  
  
William gave a sad frown, his eyes dropping to the wooden porch as he lifted a hand to absently run through his burgundy hair. "Daniel..."  
  
"Daniel."  
  
Both men looked up towards the door, surprised to find it open. Lucien's muscular frame was centered in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest and his gaze dark. He lifted a hand, holding it out towards his lover to beckon him inside. Without a word, Daniel turned away and disappeared into the house's depths. For a moment the two remaining men stared, silently jousting with their sharp, expressive gazes before Lucien slammed the door shut.  
  
...  
  
"What was THAT." Lucien was just barely containing a yell as he stood in the kitchen, glaring at the man who stood across the room.  
  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let him stand that close. I wasn't expecting..."  
  
"What, to be interrupted? To be _caught_?"  
  
"No, I didn't expect him to be like that!" Daniel's helpless frown turned downwards towards the floor as he replayed the scene in his head. He couldn't deny it, that familiar scent of honey had practically made his mouth water. It filled him with an aching desire that he had spent so long denying and ignoring. But he'd never say such things to Lucien.  
  
A hand grabbed Daniel by the jaw and squeezed. How had Lucien made it so silently across the kitchen? Daniel obeyed the hand's movements and staggered back, letting out a grunt as his head hit the wall behind him. Lucien was close now. Daniel could smell the man's earthen scent and feel his angry breath against his face. "You may not see him anymore," the furious man growled.  
  
Daniel's eyes widened. "But--"  
  
"This is not up for discussion!" Something in Daniel's expression only served to anger Lucien more. The man looked dejected all of a sudden, as if Lucien's order had broken a piece of him that had only just finished healing. He wanted to erase that look. He wanted to erase William. With a growl he mashed his lips against Daniel's, his other hand reaching under the man's shirt and making Daniel gasp. His lips worked roughly as his nails moved over Daniel's back, branding Lucien's property with welts and scrapes. Daniel cried out, tears springing to his eyes as his masochistic streak found a strange pleasure in the pain. Lucien broke away to get a good look at Daniel's face, satisfied to see the heated blush growing over the man's cheeks and tinting the tips of his ears. "You are _mine_ ," he snarled into Daniel's pink-tinged face.  
  
Daniel's eyes came back into focus to flick down towards Lucien. He let out a soft pant, his palms pressed flat against the wall as he clumsily processed the words and then spoke. "...I-I am yours..."


	9. Menace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucien is sick of feeling threatened by Daniel's "friend". Time to act.

Daniel would never be entirely sure of what woke him up. Perhaps it was the cold air hitting his bare chest where the sheets should have been. Perhaps it was the protesting claw-like scrapes on his back demanding attention. Or maybe he had sensed his sudden aloneness in the big bed for two. Either way he woke and found Lucien had gone.  
  
He dressed himself and began to walk through the house, calling out Lachance's name into each room and receiving no response. The mysterious man's random disappearances were not uncommon. This was not the first time Daniel had awoke to find himself alone. But tonight he couldn't shake off an ominous feeling that followed him from room to room, growing with each call that the absent Lucien failed to respond to. Daniel located his cell phone and called Lucien. No answer. He scrolled through his contacts to the W's in the list, but William's name was not there anymore.  
  
Daniel panicked.  
  
...  
  
William did not want to go back home right now. His unsatisfying departure from the Lachance residence had left him feeling low and sad. He went to work instead, hoping to occupy his mind with a late-night work session. For hours his mind droned on, almost mindlessly completing the next day's tasks until he could no longer connect thought A with thought B. He was too tired.  
  
Out in the empty parking garage, William found a figure leaning against his Tesla. "Lucien. What are you doing here?" William was clearly annoyed to see that man, of all people, in the parking garage and on his car. His lithe body exuded hostility towards the annoyance, whose own posture was infuriatingly comfortable as he sat on the hood with one foot up against the fender.  
  
"I am here," Lucien purred, "to threaten you."  
  
William did not move any closer. Threaten? His brow arched with interest. "Oh?"  
  
"Stay away from Daniel."  
  
"No."  
  
The response came so quickly that Lucien could not suppress a snarl. His face contorted into a mask of rage before just as quickly recovering its previous calm. He took a deep breath and clenched his jaw through his vicious smile as his hand procured a switch blade from his pocket. *Swish* It opened. *Swish swish* It closed and opened again, drawing Wiliam's eyes to it as Lucien expertly began to play with the weapon in his hand. "I have been thinking of what I would like to do to you all night. I had so much time to dream while I searched for you. Now that I have you here, I know exactly what to aim  for." Lucien sneered as William tensed, unwittingly flaring up the predatory instincts in the hostile man. "Your pretty little face."  
  
"Thank you." William took the "pretty" compliment in an effort to ease his own tension, but his voice came out too stiffly. Lucien sensed the agitation in the burgundy-haired man's tone and drank it in hungrily, savoring it. But this was the mere appetizer to William's full spectrum of fear. He continued on, choosing words that expressed himself in a way that would pull more emotion from the distressed man's lithe body.  
  
"You're welcome," Lucien murmured, a chuckle rumbling in his chest. "I wanted to aim for Daniel's favorite part of you. I can't very well cut up the history between you two, nor the fluffy yucky _feelings_ you share, but I can very well take away that pathetically feminine "beauty" at which Daniel loves to stare. You know what I think, Rosewood? I think you look like a girl." He threw back his head with a guffaw as William's manly pride broke and showed its severed pieces on his facial expression. "Do you know how much fun it would be to slice through those features and watch the mottled scars heal? I'd love to see how Daniel looks at you then, swollen mess that you would become. But..."  
  
 _Gun._ *Cli-click*  
  
"I think it would best to simply blow a hole right through that damned face instead." Lucien's upper lip curled. Like a wolf before the kill, he could feel his mouth beginning to salivate at the prospect of freshly dead prey.  
  
"LUCIEN!"  
  
Daniel's voice spread through the parking garage, its echo repeating his words in a softer decibel as he stood off to the side. His hair was slightly tousled from running, his chest heaving as his wide eyes locked onto the gun in his lover's hand. He saw Lucien let got of his focus on his target to look towards the unexpected interruption, who was now running towards the car. "You don't want to do this!"  
  
"I didn't know you could read minds," Lachance responded dryly as his gun hand relaxed and held the weapon at an angle pointing away from William. He looked a sullen child whose fun had just been taken away. How _dull_ to have such an inconvenient visitor to his near-murder. " _What_ are you doing here, Daniel?"  
  
"I can't let you kill an innocent--"  
  
"INNOCENT??"  
  
Lucien's sudden flare in temper stopped Daniel short and he lifted his hands palm outward in surrender to the man's anger. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for even talking to him again." Lucien continued to glare, prompting Daniel to expand upon his frantic apology as he began to walk towards the armed man. At this point, he'd say anything- anything at all- to keep William alive. Daniel had already lost the man in one sense. He couldn't lose him again. Not permanently. "I'm sorry for every minute I spent with him. I'm sorry for all the headache I've caused you. I won't ever speak to him again. I... p-promise..."  
  
Daniel turned to stand in front of Lucien between the man and his target, though it was more to avoid William's pained expression than anything else. It showed clearly on his face, like freshly shattered glass in a window. The next words came from William, causing Daniel's shoulders to tense against the aching in his chest.  
  
"Daniel... I c-can't..."  
  
Lucien snarled. Daniel moved towards the man as the limp gun suddenly jumped back to attention and the trigger squeezed.  
  
"Stop!"  
  
The bullet flew from the chamber with a _snap_ , boring through muscle and bone and tearing mercilessly out of the other side. William cried out.  
  
...Daniel collapsed.  
  
Lucien's wide brown eyes only had seconds to survey his accidental work before the sound of pounding footsteps bade him to flee. He sunk away into the shadows of the early morning darkness, passing away from the scene under the cover of his practiced stealthy silence.  
  
William did not look up to see who had rescued him with their loud entrance, but instead took off at a run, approaching the bleeding body on the ground and dropping to his knees. "Daniel! Daniel, can you hear me?" The body on the ground gave a gasp, his unfocused eyes aimed at the ceiling as he tried to comprehend the pain with wide eyes.  
  
"I'll call 911." William looked up towards the voice. It was a security guard.  
  
If only he had come a little sooner.


	10. Always Will.

The steady sound of the heart monitor kept William from finding any sort of restful sleep. It bleeped on and on, softly whispering to William in a nagging tone: _Daniel... Daniel... Daniel..._ Trying to sleep whilst sitting up was not helping either. Sometimes William's head would fall forward onto the bed, only to have his mind jolt him awake to check to see if he'd accidentally hurt the sleeping patient. The man seemed so delicate right now.  
  
Daniel had been awake once before. It had been a few hours after surgery, so his mind had been completely muddled by whatever painkillers the doctor had hooked up to Daniel's IV. Daniel had seemed slightly distressed in his medicinal stupor when he realized he was in a hospital, which is why the doctors were so quick to allow William back into his room. When the man awoke, he would need a familiar face to keep him calm, lest he upset the bullet wound in his shoulder. Daniel continued to sleep and William envied him for his respite from the waking world. He hoped the man would open his eyes soon.  
  
As William's head jerked back from the bed for the second time in an hour, his tightened throat squeezed out a soft whimper. He needed sleep. He needed Daniel to wake. He needed to leave and rest. He needed to stay and keep watch. Oh, why wouldn't Daniel wake!  
  
Carefully, William's thin fingers reached over the bed, brushing against the skin of the back of Daniel's hand. When his touch received no response, his movements became more sure and he gently swept up Daniel's hand, holding it to William's cheek with a tired sigh. "I love you," he murmured wearily to the unresponsive patient as his eyelids slid closed over dull green irises. It was a confession made in vain to deadened ears, but it felt good to utter the truth that had reawakened in his heart ever since he'd lost his one love to Lucien. Even so, the words made William feel empty as they bounced around the sterile hospital room. Even the reassuring warmth of Daniel's touch was slightly hindered, for William had to be careful to not disturb the clip on that index finger nor the needle taped to the back of that still hand.  
  
Suddenly, the hand splayed. William's eyes snapped open and he flinched in surprise. Daniel's hand moved out of William's hold, moving to cup the side of his face on its own. Blue and amber irises viewed William's angular face through groggy, half-opened eyes as Daniel's lips parted just enough to murmur out the first words that came to mind:  
  
"I love you too," he whispered raspily. "Always have. Always will."


End file.
